Ortiz on injury: 'I'm a little frustrated'

Ortiz on injury: 'I'm a little frustrated'

BOSTON David Ortiz was back in the Red Sox clubhouse Thursday afternoon with his right foot encased in a black plastic walking boot, a day after getting a second opinion on his injured right Achilles tendon. The second opinion, he said, confirmed what he had been originally told. The Achilles strain would require him to rest it up and just wait a couple of weeks, get it treated and itll be fine, he said.Ortiz was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Tuesday, a day after suffering the injury when he stepped on second base rounding the bases on Adrian Gonzalezs three-run homer in the eighth inning Tuesday. Ortiz would be eligible to be activated on Aug. 1. He is hopeful that he will need no more time than that.Hopefully, yeah, Ive been feeling better every day, less sore, he said. It seems like were going to be fine.Ortiz traveled to Miami for the second opinion. He and his agent Diego Benz are friends, he said, with Miami Heat owner Micky Arison and used the Heats team doctor.The Sox have had 22 players serve 25 DL stints this season, losing a total of 992 games going into Thursday nights series finale against the White Sox.Its something that weve been dealing with all year long, Ortiz said. One come in, another one get out. It seems like it just it is what it is.Ortiz is batting .316 with 23 home runs and 58 RBI. Prior to the injury he had missed just one game this season.Of course, I want to be on the field like usual, he said. But theres things that you cant really control. And probably thats one of it. So Im a little frustrated, Im not going to lie to you, especially having some guys coming back, the way things are going.Ortiz said he planned to continue getting treatments, and even take batting practice in the cage on Friday, wearing the boot.The doctor he told me yesterday Youre going to be able to take some swings in the boot, Ortiz said. This boot kind of rotates. Its not like the one that I had before last season when he missed nine games from Aug. 16-23 with right heel bursitis that was just like flat-footed. I think Ill be fine.Manager Bobby Valentine was bemused to learn that Ortiz was planning to hit on Friday.Did he say that? Valentine said. He might do something where just balls are coming in and he does something more upper body than in sync with his lower body. Itll be all supervised and regulated Im sure. Just for the eye-hand. I can see that happening.

The former Red Sox manager (fired after a 69-93 season and last-place finish in 2012), and ex-New York Mets and Texas Rangers, skipper, also managed the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons.

Valentine, 66, has known the President-elect and Trump's brother Bob since the 1980s, is close to others on Trump’s transition team and has had preliminary discussions about the ambassador position, according to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford.

Valentine, currently the athletic director of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., is also friendly with current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, like Valentine, attended the University of Southern California.

"My career had fallen into an abyss because I was so complacent with things that I had already accomplished," Sandoval said. "I did not work hard in order to achieve more and to remain at the level of the player that I am and that I can be."

After dealing Travis Shaw to the Brewers, Sandoval is expected to be the Red Sox primary third baseman in 2017.

"I am not taking anything for granted," he said. "I am here to work hard. I'm not thinking about the position or not. I am starting from scratch, and I am here to show what I can do on the field."

The 30-year-old says he’s following a “really strict routine” this offseason, and it shows. In a recent photo, Sandoval appears noticeably thinner. Sandoval says his wife giving birth to “Baby Panda” has served as inspiration.

"Watching 'Baby Panda' grow up and that he gets the opportunity to see his father play in the majors for seven, eight more years, to get back to the success I had, that's my motivation every day," Sandoval said. "The people that I surround myself with now and my family, they are the key to my success. This has been a life lesson."